Is it worth it? Let me work it, I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it*.

Do you have a good balance? Maybe not daily but over the course of a month are you able to work when you need and stop and rest and enjoy life when you are not working?

I will admit this has been the hardest for me. And now being self-employed my mind is always about work. Teaching, I was always figuring out what to do to help the kids, shop for my classroom, find activities and books or things to do.

But giving yourself a break is really overwhelming. It can actually be painful to sit in silence and be still. But you see this is exactly what we need more of. We need to slow down. We need to quiet our mind. We need to rest.

And by that I don’t mean sit or nap (but that is very helpful). I mean sit with your mind and thoughts at peace and no planning or scheduling or shopping or having conversations with people in our head. It means just being where you are and listening to others or the sounds of life around us. Yeah- it’s really F’n hard!

So how have I implemented this? I’ve stopped listening to music or podcasts on my morning walks. I started with 10 minutes. I listen to the morning birds and sounds. It’s been wonderful. I’ve now been doing this for 7 months and I find that I end up walking a full hour with my headphones in my hand. Yes sometimes my mind wonders to writing or creating posts. And yes, to me that is work but it’s the kind of work that also allows me to be creative and expressive. It’s finding that balance to where I don’t dwell or stress on it that’s key.

So I don’t write these thoughts down. I don’t dictate them to a notepad as I used to. I simple just let them go in and out. So what? I’ve lost a million great ideas and thoughts. The more I allow myself time to be with me I know it will come back. How about you? What are you doing to help reset yourself daily or weekly?

*Title from Missy Elliot song "Work it"